HART targets artificial bronchus, esophagus for turnaround

Jim McGorry, CEO of Harvard Apparatus Regenerative Technology (NSDQ:HART), said he’s ready to right the ship at HART by expanding its regenerative trachea tech into both the bronchus and esophagus.

McGorry has been the CEO of HART for 4 months, and told the Boston Business Journal he’s preparing to turn the company’s stock slide around.

The reins were passed to McGorry from former CEO David Green earlier this year as the company said it was seeking a chief exec had the experience to guide the company through clinical trials and product launches.

McGorry took over a slumping company – HART’s shares are down 89% since the start of the year, and hadn’t lifted above $1 since September, the Boston Business Journal reports.

But stocks are looking up, lifting to $1.37 today after releasing positive data from preliminary animal tests of the new esophageal regenerative device.

“It’s groundbreaking – it’s regeneration of an organ. I want to regenerate the esophagus and stock price at the same time,” McGorry told The Boston Business Journal.

McGorry is positive about the results, and expanding the business into a larger patient market.

“Importantly, our esophageal implant addresses a very significant need as a potentially life-saving treatment for patients with esophageal cancer. Each year in the U.S. approximately 17,000 new cases of esophageal cancer are diagnosed, and more than 4,000 are addressed by surgery. Our results underscore the value and potential of our platform technology to treat these patients and pave the way for further studies and our regulatory pathway for human clinical trials,” CMO Saviera La Francesca said in a press release.

The company said it remains on track to conduct human compassionate use surgeries and file for an initial application with the FDA for regulatory clearance in 2016.

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